Silent Live performance over skype/teams/zoom

[Hudson1984]

So, before covid, i'd been taking regular piano lessons, sadly these ended with restrictions but I managed to find an online teacher and carried on for a while. But life changed, new child, new house and the piano eventually got sold as there was just no room (far too much baby stuff!)

anyway, i've just starting renting an office so i'm out of the house more these days and have been thinking about getting a digital piano and start playing again, really have missed it!

my issue would come in with neighbours - i'm sure they don't want to hear me playing scales or messing up new pieces! and I want to be respectful especially being as i've not been there long.

I can of course play the piano through headphones - that parts simple.

What i'd like to be able to do though is have lessons online again.

This means a teacher needs to hear what i'm playing. How - or more to the point - is it possible to do this without speakers?

IS there a way to connect the piano to a PC, and have it transmit the sound over something like teams or zoom or something like that? i.e. a live broadcast of what i'm doing.

I don't mind neighbours hearing me speak of course, that's expected but I don't want to be intrusive with instruments in a work space, so i'm keen to work this out before I buy the piano, as if it needs specific outputs i'm keen to buy correctly.

Really appreciate any help given, most i've ever done before is add some studio monitors and a mic and away I went.

If I can solve this it means I can have lessons during working hours (I work for myself so my boss doesn't mind )

[Drew Stephenson]

I think what you'll need is an audio interface (AI) that can take the keyboard input and I think you'll need a microphone to plug into it as well.
I think you'll need the separate mic because when you ask Zoom to use the AI it will then stop listening to any built in mic you have elsewhere. So you'd need a mic and the keyboard plugged into the same interface.
You then plug your headphones into the interface and you can hear your keyboard, your mic and your Zoom teacher.

[The Elf]

I do this kind of thing all the time. Drew has covered it generically, but I will add that RME's TotalMix makes it very simple, so worth considering if you don't already have an audio interface. Voicemeeter can also be helpful in pulling audio feeds together and getting them where they need to be.

[Hudson1984]

ok cool, will look into all of that certainly.

at the moment I don't have anything at all, no piano, no AI nothing. Mainly because I wanted to buy correctly, last time around it was more about playing piano normally so none of this really mattered to me as my webcam was up to the task there, but now with the need to be largely silent to all around me I'm keen to start on the right foot.

[N i g e l]

Keyboard key clack is somthing to consider as well. The clack can easily couple through a stand into the room below. Apparently its annoying
Not sure how it travels through air compared to voices.

[Hudson1984]

ah not fussed about the clack, below me is a toilet so shouldn't have too many complaints there lol

[zenguitar]

ah not fussed about the clack, below me is a toilet so shouldn't have too many complaints there lol

And if you do get complaints you will have identified the shirker.

Andy

[Hudson1984]

haha I'll keep that in mind!

I think i'm settled on the Roland RD 88 Piano, I wonder if the Presonus AudioBox iTwo Studio bundle would be a good fit? seems ideal to my eyes, but again, this is a bit new to me.

[Drew Stephenson]

Possibly, but possibly not. The possibly not bit is because it only has two audio inputs. So if you have the microphone in one you'll only get a mono output from the piano to plug in the other one.
But, the possibly bit is that if you're only going to need the mic and keyboard plugged in together for Zoom lessons that will probably be fine. *
Should you wish to do any recording offline then you'll be able to unplug the mic and plug both audio outputs from the piano in at the same time and capture a stereo recording.
For practicing you can just plug the headphones into the piano and ignore the interface altogether of course.

I think the core question is whether you're ever likely to want to do anything more involved in terms of either recording or live-streaming. If you think you might, then it's probably worth looking for an interface with four inputs.

* The interface does have a midi input too, so you could plug the piano in here and use the midi signal from the piano to trigger a virtual instrument (VSTi) on the computer. That package comes with appropriate software to do that if you wanted, but again we're going beyond basic practice and lessons here so it may be of no interest to you.

[Hudson1984]

thanks for the reply, all good to know certainly!

I can't see myself live streaming any time soon, so the setup would purely be for practice and lessons.

In fact, for practice I will purely plug the headphones directly into the piano and leave the interface alone completely.

you're right in your assumption, I've no real interest in the midi side of things i.e. virtual instruments. Would really like to have this as simple as possible so if this kit will do the job - despite its limitations then that's great.

If I ever get to a point of live streaming etc i'd most likely be upgrading other things anyway.

[Drew Stephenson]

In that case that combo should do the job for you.
It looks like the piano has unbalanced outputs so a pair of simple tip-sleeve (TS) "mono" cables to go from the main outputs to the front of the audio interface. Just leave the left one in for mono operation and plug a microphone into the other interface input for lessons.